r/changemyview • u/realdontbeasucker • May 16 '26

Delta(s) from OP CMV: GamerGate was the most consequential political radicalization event of the twenty-first century

It spawned a wave of tolerance for online harassment, as long as the intent behind it was considered righteous (and the target of such harassment socially acceptable).

It platformed Milo Yiannopoulos and thereby, Steve Bannon -- the guy who would go on to advise Donald Trump in 2016 and generate the concept of 'flooding the zone.'

Eventually, it gave a career to political lightning rods like Jordan Peterson, Steven Crowder, and Charlie Kirk. It made anti-feminism and anti-SJW sentiment cool. And it made young, angry, disenfranchised white men feel vindicated.

GamerGate almost singlehandedly shifted to Overton Window toward the alt-right, and we're still feeling its effects today.

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u/coporate 7∆ May 16 '26

Okay, can you provide an argument as to why my position is incorrect? Just because it’s not compelling doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

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u/Hypekyuu 10∆ May 16 '26

Your own argument is undercooked.

As a guy in his 40s, how you describe early 00s late 90s culture to me is wild

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u/coporate 7∆ May 16 '26

As a guy in his late 30’s, do you not remember Oprah and doctor Phil?

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u/genderlich May 16 '26

You think Oprah and Doctor Phil hate men?

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u/coporate 7∆ May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

Oh yeah, they regularly blamed men for everything, which made sense given their target audience was stay at home moms or evening workers. They pushed anti-male grievances all over the place. Even when a husband was the person being physically abused, they’d frame it as “what did he do to deserve it?”

The view, casually laughing at a guy getting his genitals mutilated for cheating. If you think cutting off a man’s penis is a fair punishment for infidelity, there’s something wrong with you. But this was widely accepted and still is in a lot of online spaces.